How do you argue with a spell that turns you
INTO a dragon? Well, it ain't easy. I do love
cards like this, that manage to express their
flavor without flavor text, simply by their name
and what they do. But honestly, I also love the
fact that it's not a terribly powerful card.
Five damage each turn represents you "attacking"
each turn, or possibly breathing fiery
projectiles onto the battlefield. Creatures
without flying can't attack you, because you're
a dragon and YOU have flying. But just as damage
and pump effects on creatures wears off at end
of turn, any life you've lost or gained "wears
off" and your life total (toughness) is reset to
5. Five damage in one turn isn't that hard for
most decks to deal, even without the luxury of
attacking with non-flyers. Some decks will be
caught without answers, but the decks most
likely to not have flyers (Mean Green, Red Deck
Wins, and White Weenie) will either just laugh
and aim their burn at you, or disenchant the
Form and it's back to business as usual.
Why do I like that this is a bad card? Because
remember: the main idea behind Magic: the
Gathering is that you're a planeswalker. This
isn't just a cool, flavorful card, it's also a
practical demonstration of what it means to be a
planeswalker. It means turning yourself into a
dragon... is a downgrade.
Just don't tell Sarkhan Vol I said that. ;)
This card is kind of fun because they found a
way to simulate turning yourself into a dragon.
It's also rather frustrating to play against,
considering that it can entirely lock out a
bunch of attackers and kill anything it can't
lock out. But that's exactly what a lot of
slower decks need, and as long as you can defend
yourself from that single fatal Lava Axe or
similar, Form of the Dragon is almost the
perfect card for it.
Welcome back readers today's card of the day
while having dragon in its name is not a
creature but is one of the most dragony
enchantments ever printed. Form of the Dragon
does exactly what its name implies, turns you
into a dragon! The benefit of being a dragon is
it allows you to become impervious to
ground based damage and deal huge chunks of
damage all with the downside of having only 5
life well having your life total set to five.
Rather than played alongside dragons this card
was key in Enduring Ideal based combo decks to
lock down the game with enchantments in its hey
day. Now in competitive formats its sadly a
shadow of its former self in competitive formats
it sees some fringe play for this reason and can
be a unique and powerful card. In casual and
multiplayer the risk associated with this card
does not often outweigh its potential power,
having such a small life total is asking for
trouble and while the upside is tangible its not
quite enough. In limited its expensive slow and
could win you the game by itself, its an
incredibly niche card which rewards you for
doing very speicfic things. Overall a very niche
dragon card relegated to funky combo decks, but
a card that embodies the spirit of a dragon.
Today's card of the day is Form of the Dragon
which is a seven mana Red enchantment with three
attributes. At the beginning of your
upkeep it deals five damage to target creature
or player which can burn through life points
very quickly or lock down the battlefield for
constant alpha strikes. At the end of each
turn it sets your life total to five, which is a
bit of a drawback when higher in life points and
an opponent has options to deal five or more
damage in a single turn. When lower in
life points or able to keep the battlefield
locked down it is a solid advantage and can make
losing very difficult. The last line
prevents creatures without Flying from attacking
you which is a huge benefit when at five life
points and if supported with the first effect
can make an opponent concede outright when this
hits play. Overall this is an extremely
powerful card with a high mana cost and some
risk involved, but played intelligently and with
some support it can dominate games and is
difficult to overcome.
In a Limited setting with this it should win
almost every time it enters play as outside of
burn, enchantment removal, or multiple creatures
with Flying there is little that can be done.
The triple Red forces the color as primary or
secondary, so a weak pool will force this into
the sidedeck in Sealed. For Booster it
can't be passed safely and should be picked
first as drafting against it is problematic
while designing around it is more effective.
For Multiplayer the risk of someone having a
method of getting around the effects and dealing
five damage increases dramatically, so
additional precautions are necessary.
This is one of the most cleverly designed cards
in Magic in my opinion. Basically, you get to
BECOME a dragon. 5 life (toughness) that resets
every turn? Check. Flying, keeping you away from
all of the annoying ground-pounders? Check. Deal
5 damage to something every turn? Check.
Form of the Dragon is a very cool card to use,
but it is also dangerous and needs support.
Sometimes, you will lock out an opponent that
doesn’t have flying creatures, big direct damage
spells, or enchantment removal, but if they have
one of those things, the 5 life you find
yourself at every turn is a pretty precarious
place.
I played a modern enchantment deck for a while,
playing control until I could play Enduring
Ideal to search out a new enchantment every
turn. I used a suite of enchantments to lock out
the opponent and protect myself, and when it was
in place, I would search this out to eat away
any potential threats and eventually their life
total.
So, it’s a great card, but don’t play it unless
you’ve really thought it through and have a deck
that fully supports it. I would be hesitant to
put this in a limited deck with it’s high cost
and high risk. It’s also a card, because of the
way it locks other people out, that other people
hate seeing across the table. It would put a big
target on your back in a multiplayer game, and
chances are someone has a way to deal you 5
damage in one turn.
Constructed: 4.0
Casual: It makes YOU a dragon. 5.0
Limited: 2.5
Multiplayer: 2.5
